Hackathon to explore transport solutions to gender-based violence

Industrial Court judge and mediator Elizabeth Solomon will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Women Initiated Progress (WIP) Hackathon, scheduled for April 30 to May 2 at 11 Cipriani Boulevard, Woodbrook. The hackathon will look at solving problems within the TT transport system as a response to gender-based violence.

The hackathon is a weekend-long, collaborative event hosted by local digital agency Zed Labs. It will bring together technologists, entrepreneurs, creatives, designers, developers and more to produce solutions related to specific problems within the local transportation system as a response to gender-based violence.

The WIP Hackathon has partnered with When We Unite, a virtual women’s summit on the gender-based violence crisis in TT scheduled for May 19. The winning team of the hackathon will have an opportunity to present their pitch deck at the summit's Change our Future segment. Additionally, the winning team will be given a desk within Zed Labs’ co-working space where they’ll be able to tap into a network of software developers and designers to help drive their product into development.

In a release, Zed Labs co-founder Mark Pereira said, “Our goal with this hackathon is to start pushing technology in TT and action the private sector to use technology to solve problems within our society, starting first with our transport system. Many impactful businesses have sprouted out of hackathons, so we are hoping to foster the growth of these particular ideas and projects so they can become successful businesses and have an impact in TT.”

Solomon is an experienced mediator in a wide variety of political, post-conflict and commercial contexts around the world. She joined the United Nations and spent 20 years as a conflict prevention and peacebuilding practitioner in various conflict contexts including Bosnia, Cyprus, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and Somalia. Her work on human rights and development has always involved the use of art to explore identity and bridge gaps in resolving deep seated conflict.

The panel of judges includes Solomon, Pereira, Ernst and Young strategy and transactions partner Maria Daniel, Works and Transport Ministry communications manager Kizzy Ruiz, and Tech Beach and ChefMade co-founder Kyle Maloney. Guest speakers include Travee app co-founder Emeka Farrier and Image Matters Ltd managing director Amanda Jardine.

For more information on the WIP Hackathon, visit wiphackathon.com.